By this time next year, the World Boxing Council (WBC), one of the sport's most illustrious governing bodies, will have invited transgender boxers to come out and participate in a specific division or competition.
The "at birth" rule, which specifies that trans boxers who were born a man may only compete against other trans fighters who were also born males, will be adopted under the proposals made by WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman.
According to what Sulaiman told the Daily Telegraph, “we are going to put out a global call for those who are interested in 2023 and we will set up the protocols, start a consultation, and most likely create a league and a tournament.”
“It is the time to do this, and we are doing this because of safety and inclusion.
“We have been the leaders in rules for women’s boxing – so the dangers of a man fighting a woman will never happen because of what we will put in place.
“In boxing, a man fighting a woman must never be accepted regardless of gender change. There should be no grey area around this; we want to go into it with transparency and the correct decisions.
“Woman to man or man to woman transgender change will never be allowed to fight a different gender by birth.
“We are creating a set of rules and structures so that transgender boxing can take place, as they fully deserve to if they want to box,” he continued.
“We do not yet know the numbers that there are out there, but we’re opening a universal registration in 2023, so that we can understand the boxers that are out there – and we’ll start from there.”